X-Men: The Beautiful People Pt5
by Cap808
Summary: The X-Men take some time off, while Deadpool meets the Punisher. And who will play a part in Tony Stark's Operation: SHIELD?


**The X-Men: The Beautiful People Pt. 5**

**New York, Headquarters of the X-Men**

Alison Blaire couldn't sleep. Warren Worthington lay beside her in a bedroom the size of a large condo! They had dated for a while, and as much as Warren liked to show off, this was the first time he had brought her here. God, this place was just as gorgeous as he was.

Earlier that week**, **the X-Men had confronted a woman who could not only move things with her mind, but she could read their minds as well! The encounter had left them all quite unsettled. Warren denied it, but Alison knew him too well already.

Alison took a deep breath and exhaled. Currently, she wasn't here as Warren's girlfriend. She was here to begin training as an X-Man. As the Dazzler. The chance to use her light creating powers for the benefit of others was too much for her to ignore. No matter what people said, she wasn't shallow.

She made a good enough living as a singer, and with a one-time Top 40 single, she could live off of those royalties. She planned to donate most of her salary from the X-Men, along with any endorsements or royalties from them, to a couple of different foundations she had set up. Coming up, she had done whatever it took to 'make it', and now that she had, it was time to give back.

The thought made her smile, and she began to glow. Literally. Orbs of pink, blue, orange, and yellow, danced around Alison's head. She sighed. Relaxed, she fell asleep.

In another room, Hank McCoy was awake as well. His girlfriend, Ororo Munroe, slept soundly next to him. Hank on the other hand, had a lot to think about. In the past weeks he had been shot, beaten, and burnt. Yet here he lay in bed, with not even a scratch.

Hank knew he should be thrilled, but something about his new healing factor bothered him. Between the recent fights, all the publicity, and spending time with Ororo, Hank couldn't find the time to run tests on himself. He sighed. All in due time he guessed.

Finally, Wanda Maximoff lay in bed looking at her boyfriend, Scott Summers. He slept deeply, and soundly. As well he should, since she had to charm him to sleep. He'd wake up tomorrow morning precisely at 7am.

Scott had been awake for close to 24 hours. The stresses of running the team was hard enough, but to confront someone with the powers of Jean Grey? Scott would worry himself to death about the well-being of everyone else but himself.

Earlier tonight, Sunfire and Quicksilver decided to leave the building and 'have their own lives' whenever they could. Scarlet had no idea what that meant? While Scott was the team leader, he was not their father, and he couldn't stop them from living their lives, but she could still worry about her brother.

As Cyclops and Scarlet, they were one of, if not the most, famous couple in the world. Wanda understood that he was a great leader and strategist. She also knew that Scott was already planning for fights and horrific events that no one else had even considered yet.

Wanda kissed Scott's forehead and decided to get some sleep of her own. There was no sense in her worrying about anything, Scott did enough of that for all of them. And she loved him for it.

**Brooklyn, New York**

Wade Wilson pulled his coat tight around him. He adjusts the hood to cover as much of his face as possible. Thinking a whiskey would be perfect to warm him up, he walks into a rundown bar. Despite the remote location, Wade noticed that this place was unusually busy for a weeknight.

Wade was never one to avoid crowds, hell, he lived for attention. His current situation required him to keep on moving, though. He finds a table in back away from all of the prying eyes who already watched him sit down.

A cocktail waitress casually approaches him.

"What would you like to drink, sugar?" she asked.

Avoiding eye contact, Wade murmurs, "Just a Whiskey."

The cocktail waitress smiles "Just trying to keep warm?"

Lowering his hood, Wade replies, "Yep."

Wade notices even more people spilling into the bar. This was no coincidence. These mooks all seemed to know each other. Not to mention, a lot of them were carrying large duffle bags. Weapons or cash.

Unlike his Weapon X roommate, Logan, Wade didn't have any heightened senses, but he definitely noticed the tension in the air. This wasn't where he needed to be right now. He got up and starts for the door, until a very large man blocks his way.

"Excuse me," Wade says with his eyes on the floor.

The man refuses to budge, which causes Wade to accidentally bump the large man.

The whole bar stands up with that slightest of contact.

The very large, and very bald, man looks down at Wade.

"Excuse me, stranger," the large man said. "This is my establishment, my neighborhood, my City. I move for no one."

Wade knows this man. Wilson Fisk. The Kingpin.

This was a bad dude who controlled a majority of the city's criminal underground. He was known to 'dispatch' of his adversaries with his bare hands. Wade cursed his timing.

The Kingpin put his briefcase down and removes his coat.

"Look, Mr. Kingpin, sir," Wade said with a smirk. "I don't want any trouble. I'm just passing by."

"You seem too anxious to leave," the Kingpin acknowledges. "What brought you to this particular establishment, on this particular night?"

"Ladies night?" Wade quips.

"I find it odd that we are gathered here tonight to discuss our 'Punisher' problem, and a stranger like you shows up," the Kingpin frowns.

"Punisher problem?" Wade giggles. "I didn't realize it was that kind of club."

"Outstanding." Kingpin says with a smile of his own.

The Kingpin backhands Wade, sending him flying back onto a table, instantly breaking it.

Dusting the splinters off himself, Wade sighs, "Let's get this over with,"

He pulls out two swords from under his coat, and through a hail of gunfire, begins to slash, dice, and eviscerate, everyone in the bar. The two exceptions were the cocktail waitress, and the Kingpin.

The Kingpin stood with his mouth open in shock. Within seconds he had seen the stranger messily kill two dozen men. This was the kind of fear that Kingpin demanded, he wasn't supposed to be the victim of it!

"Sorry about the mess, Mr. Kingpin," Wade says. "I really was just passing through. I could give you a lengthy dialogue about how I have to spare you so there is no vacuum in the underworld, and you're the devil I know, and blah, blah, blah…but, how about we leave it as you owe me one?

Just then, Wade is hit in the back of the head. Hard. He collapses at the Kingpin's feet.

Kingpin looks at the assailant.

"Thank you," he says. "But as my bodyguard I would have preferred that you were by my side when this encounter happened."

"I apologize," the large, muscular assailant says. "As your chauffer as well, I should advise you that someone parked in your stall. That's why it took so long."

"I understand, Luke," Kingpin nods. "Although, when I paid for those experimental treatments on you, I should have asked them to give you super speed to go along with your strength and steel-hard skin."

The man named Luke, shrugged.

"No damage done at least?" he asked.

Waiting for a dramatic cue, Wade chooses this moment to stand up suddenly. The suddenness of it scared the Kingpin, who grabs at his chest suddenly.

"Son of a bitch!" Wade yells, as the back of his head began to reassemble itself one bone fragment at a time.

Still gasping for breath, the sight of Wade's head healing itself was too much for the Kingpin. His eyes roll up into his head, and he falls to the floor. Wade wasn't a doctor, at least in the United States, but he guessed it was a heart attack.

Wade then dodges a couple of unannounced punches from the Kingpin's bodyguard. Wade looks at the man and realizes that this dude looked like a total badass! Wade also determined that either this guy bought his clothes two sizes too small, or if he worked out.

"What's up, big guy?" Wade asks disingenuously as he spins around.

He throws one of his swords at the large man and Wade sees literal sparks come off the man's skin where the sword had bounced off. The man picks the sword up off the ground and breaks it in his bare hands.

Wade looks at his opponent, then down to the deceased Kingpin, and then back to his opponent.

"We don't have to do this anymore," Wade called out. "You have a name, stranger?"

Luke walked forward until he was a few feet from Wade.

"My name is Cage," the man grunts. "Luke Cage."

"Damn. Cool name," Wade admits genuinely.

"You got a name?" Cage asked.

"My name?" Wade asks out loud. He had to come pretty strong. Cage oozed coolness. He thinks about it for a second before answering, "You can call me Slash Gordon!"

Cage cringes at the name, and Wade notices the reaction.

"No?" Wade asks. Wade ponders it for a second and says, "Deadpool. Call me Deadpool."

Cage nods. "Deadpool. Look, Deadpool, I really have no beef with you. And seeing as how my employer will no longer be paying me, I'd like to just go on my way."

"The Kingpin owes me one," Deadpool shrugged. "I can make sure he pays you."

Cage looks over Deadpool's shoulder, "The man is dead."

Deadpool cringes, "Sorry. I haven't had my meds recently. Short attention span."

Cage puts up his hands, "I'm out."

Deadpool watches Cage leave the bar. He is about to leave as well, but his curiosity gets the better of him. He needs to know what the Kingpin has in his briefcase that was so important for all of these people to be here. Hearing sirens, Deadpool takes the briefcase with him.

Sitting under a bridge later in the evening, Deadpool opens the briefcase to see that it is full of documents regarding someone named, Frank Castle. He wore a costume that resembled a devil, and they called him, 'The Punisher'. The Kingpin and his goons were planning an all-out assault on just one dude?

Intrigued, Deadpool reads a little deeper into the file and finds that the Punisher has been on the wrong side of the Kingpin for years. As a young man, the Punisher once stopped the Kingpin's goons from killing an amateur boxer who was supposed to blow a fight for some pretty heavy gamblers. The boxer, and his young son, were able to escape into the witness protection plan, but Frank Castle wasn't so lucky.

A week later, Castle was assaulted by the Kingpin's men. They beat him and tortured him, pouring unknown chemicals into his eyes. He was declared legally blind, but he survived as a warning to anyone else who felt like they could betray the Kingpin.

Deadpool exhaled. Wow. This Frank Castle, Punisher dude, must be a bad man to attract this kind of attention. But he was freaking blind!

"Oh well, Mr. Punisher," Deadpool chuckled. "You're welcome…"

Deadpool crumples up the paperwork and tosses it over his shoulder.

A moment later Wade was surrounded on two sides of the bridge by what looked to him like the whole United States Army. Every single one of them pulled out their gun and pointed them at him.

Deadpool held up his hands and shouted, "Oh my God! You people take littering seriously!"

**Hickam Air Force Base - Honolulu, Hawaii**

Tony Stark walked down a long hallway with Captain America. Tony could hardly breathe. He had only heard stories of the Captain's heroics during the wars, and with the Captain's stature, and…scars, he struck quite the intimidating presence. However, they had a common goal, to protect the American people.

Besides, Tony shrugged. Once the Captain saw his team, and Tony's new surprise addition, the Captain would be thankful to have Tony as part of Operation: S.H.I.E.L.D's, brain trust.

They finally made their way over to a glass casing, showing both Ben Grimm, codenamed the Thing, and Doctor Otto Octavius, codenamed, Dr. Octopus, in a room watching footage of the X-Men using their powers.

Captain America quietly stares at the duo. He waited to see if there was any sign of fear on their faces while watching the footage. Thankfully, there wasn't any. Then something else caught the Captain's gaze. His own reflection.

Captain America's last mission ended with the Captain literally getting blown off of a plane. The Captain had held on too long, and his boots got caught in one of the plane's panels. While the Captain survived the explosion, the resulting flames and shrapnel had severely scarred the Captain's face.

It unnerved Tony how the Captain had dealt with the many scars on his face. Using something red that Tony hoped wasn't blood, the Captain traced every one of his scars. His impromptu war paint made it seem as if the red stripes of his beloved flag, ran across his face. It would definitely come off as a fierce visage to his opponents on the field of battle.

The Captain spoke, his voice a comforting baritone.

"There are only two of them," he said. "Where are the rest?"

Tony nervously led the Captain to yet another room.

"The mercenary is being personally delivered by Carol Danvers," Tony began.

"A mercenary?" the Captain scoffed. "What's so special about this one in particular?"

Tony shrugged, "We've been led to believe that he can't die."

The Captain stopped at the door that Tony had led him to.

"Everyone can die," the Captain said unflinching.

"No doubt," Tony agreed half-heartedly. At this point, he just wanted to show off his newest weapon.

"Okay, Cap," Tony smirked. "Is it okay for me to call you Cap?"

The Captain nodded.

Tony cleared his throat and threw the door open. Inside the room, among all kinds of tools and rafters, was a 15 foot suit of armor. His friend and body guard, James Rhoads, was inside the armor. The shiny, purple armor took Tony's breath away every time he saw it.

"What is that thing?" the Captain asked.

Tony beamed, "I call it…the Sentinel!"

**END PART 5**


End file.
